About Us

We live in Tel Aviv and We Love It . . .

But sometimes we want a place to go for a change of scenery. We want a place we can feel comfortable in our own skin, reminisce about New York and London and meet some friendly adult faces. We want a space that offers quality nursery school and afternoon classes and allows our kids to run around and play with others.

CityKids is all-in-one education center for families with children newborn-13 years old. We have a Ministry of Education recognized nursery school for children ages eight months to six years, a library with over 1,500 of our children's favorite English books and we offer a variety of classes from English to art, music to movement all taught by highly qualified teachers by our an official English curriculum. We strive each moment of every day to be the ultimate safe, clean and fun English speaking resource for Tel Aviv families to gather, learn, socialize and play.

Our Staff

Elvia Fisher, Owner and Director came to Israel in 2007 in her first stop in an around the world trip. A Psychology and Business graduate from Roger Williams University, her entrepreneurial brain got to work in 2010 after recognizing the lack of English speaking resources for families in central Tel Aviv. Elvia has spent the last few years developing CityKids afterschool and nursery school programs, and advocating for quality education in Israel. She is proud to have brought such a resource to Tel Aviv and gets her inspiration from all the beautiful families and teachers that come through the CityKids doors.

Juliet Taylor, Nursery School Education Director came to Israel in 2013. Since arriving she has taught English to Sudanese and Eritrean refugees and also worked in a private language school teaching all ages and levels. Prior to living in Israel Juliet obtained a BA (Hons) from the Department of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies of Leeds University. She is an experienced class teacher, having worked at a leading Jewish primary school in London. Whilst working there she was head of the Art Department, a mentor for trainee teachers and responsible for creating a new phonics programme. Juliet has a postgraduate certificate in Psychology from London's Institute of Education and in line with this her teaching aim is to provide a warm, loving and nurturing environment for every child to fulfil their potential.

Tzvia Teller, Director of Programs is an EFL teacher, trainer and educational material writer. She worked as an elementary school teacher in London for 5 years prior to making aliyah in 2009 and loves working with young people. Since arriving in Israel she has trained both teachers and teaching inspectors in the Ministry of Education and written educational material for several international publications, with a specialty for teaching emergent reading. As Director of Programs at CityKids, Tzvia is excited about shaping the English curriculum, with her primary goal to make learning English fun, enriching, creative and purposeful.

Ashley Reich grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in New Jersey before making Aliyah in 2014. Before joining the CityKids family, she was a live in nanny for a family in Tel Aviv. Her love and passion for children started at young age. Through high school and college she worked at the Jewish Community Center in Margate City, NJ. There she started as a camp counselor and later become the Youth and Teen Director. As the Youth and Teen Director, Ashley planned programs and events for children of all ages and their families. Ashley is excited to help each child blossom and grow to their highest potential through a fun, exciting and creative learning environment.

Desiree Eslamboly was born and raised in Los Angeles. Deciding that Los Angeles was not warm enough, she uprooted to Miami, Florida for university. While there, she obtained a BA in Criminology and a minor in Human and Social Development. Desiree fell in love with education while doing a year of national service with AmeriCorps and became certified to teach English to non-native speakers. She most recently spent a year teaching students in grades 1-6 in a public school in Petach Tikva. She is excited to return to the bustling city life in Tel Aviv and bring her love for children and education to CityKids.

Ethan Tyler is from a small town in British Columbia Canada where he quickly fell in love with working in childcare from a young age. Before making Aliyah in 2013 Ethan worked as the Recreation Coordinator for children programing in his home town for over 5 years. As Recreation Coordinator Ethan planned and participated in fun, creative and dynamic programming for children of all ages. Ethan loves school and learning, and hopes to pass that passion on to kids! He is currently working on his second degree hoping to follow his dreams of one day becoming an astronomy professor.

Fallon Renard hails from the Valley in Los Angeles. She did her MASA internship at CityKids and decided to stay in Israel for the remainder of the school year. She recently graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Life Science and a minor in Jewish Studies. Her passion for working with children started early on from attending Jewish sleep away camp. She worked as a counselor for 5 years and taught preschool and third grade religious school. Being a part of CityKids is an amazing experience for her and will serve as a perfect bridge before she gets her teaching credential.

Liat Freeman was raised in the small town of Arad, Israel. Both of her Parents made Aliyah, her father from New York and her mother from Australia, making Liat a native English and Hebrew speaker. She studied Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. Prior to CityKids, Liat worked as a kindergarten teacher in a Hebrew preschool, an Au Pair and has been an English summer camp counselor. In the future, Liat hopes to pursue her Master's degree in Psychology. She loves working with children and watching them develop and cannot imagine a better place to do so than CityKids!

Lisa Judah is from England, and has recently made Aliyah. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Events Management, she decided to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Education as she found her passion working with children in the Early Years Foundation Stage, as she loves watching children learn through play. Before making Aliyah, Lisa was a Reception teacher in a primary school where she taught the children to read and write in English. She has also taught in a Nursery and enjoys providing stimulating and exciting environments for children. She is very excited to become part of our team at CityKids.

Rachel Franklin made Aliya from Australia and lives with her husband and 4 children in Modiin. She has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education (B.Ed (ECE)) from Macquarie University in Sydney and more than a decade's experience working with young children. She also has many years' experience guiding and supporting other educators in developing their own skills and talents. In her spare time she loves reading and doing Pilates to keep fit. She is very excited to get to know all the families at CityKids.

Taylor Yaroslawitz grew up in New York City. She attended Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she completed her Bachelors of Arts in Early Childhood Education, Psychology of Early Childhood and Sociology. Following university, she came to Israel for her student teaching at The Tabeetha School in Jaffa. Upon completing her student teaching and acquiring her teacher’s certification in the United States she finished up the year as the form teacher for the third grade at The Tabeetha School. In September 2013 she made Aliyah. Taylor received her Masters of Arts at Tel Aviv University’s Bob Shapell School of Social Work in Trauma and Crisis Intervention Studies.

About us

CityKids is an English speaking, community, education and play space for families with children newborn to 13 years old.

Our blog

The CityKids English curriculum identifies annual learning objectives for nine levels for children 3-12 years old and focuses on four skills; Reading, Writing, Oral Communication and Literary Appreciation.